Jeered mayor defends Crestwood water

Gerry SmithTribune staff reporter

Crestwood's mayor on Saturday tried to assure his south suburban town its drinking water is safe as an outraged and skeptical standing-room-only crowd shouted him down and demanded to know why local officials secretly used a polluted well for more than two decades.

The contentious hourlong meeting marked the first time Mayor Robert Stranczek fielded questions from residents since a Tribune investigation found Crestwood residents had unknowingly used tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems."We're going to be lab rats for the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years," said Crestwood resident Wendy Brunette, 44, who called on the village to conduct a survey to see if residents were at risk for any long-term health problems.

Stranczek, who often was drowned out by shouts from about 200 residents, said the well has been turned off, taken out of the ground and closed off.

"Here's what I can tell you about our water: Our water has always been safe to drink," Stranczek said. "I can tell you the water is safe today, will be safe tomorrow and will be safe into the future."

Before it was shut off, Crestwood officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a dry-cleaning solvent were in the water, records show.

The village avoided scrutiny by telling state regulators in 1986 that they would get all of their tap water from Lake Michigan and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood kept drawing well water on a routine basis -- relying on it for up to 20 percent of the village's water supply some months.

The well wasn't shut off for good until December 2007, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency tested the water for the first time in more than 20 years.

State records obtained by the Tribune show the village was aware of the contamination on at least one other occasion. In 1998, village officials were present when contractors tested the well while investigating a plume of perchloroethylene, or PCE, that had leached into the ground nearby. The PCE most likely came from a dry cleaner less than 300 feet from the well. In a letter found in EPA files, the contractors write that village officials told them they still were drawing from the well for a portion of the village's water supply.

On Saturday, Stranczek told residents the village is cooperating with the state EPA and also is working with the agency to do sample testing.

"No one in the village of Crestwood government, past or present, would ever intentionally allow a hazard to threaten our community," Stranczek said.

The amount of water pumped from the well went as high as 20.4 percent from October 1991 to October 1992, and as low as 2.84 percent from January 2006 to September 2007, according to figures the village released at the meeting.

Sitting next to an attorney, Stranczek denied that the well was used to save money.

"If it was a money issue, we would have been running 20, 25, 30 percent well water," the mayor said.

Asked why the village did not inform residents of the tainted well two decades ago, the mayor said "there were no violations" at that time.

Stranczek said the village has established a Web site, villageofcrestwood.org, to update residents as state officials look into the matter.

A few residents sought to defend the mayor and his father, Chester Stranczek, the town's longtime mayor who retired in 2007. Sandy Baricevic said she raised a daughter in Crestwood who is now 40 and "as healthy as she can be." Baricevic also said she had visited the mayor's house over the years and watched them make tea and coffee "from the faucet, just like everyone else."

But many were angry. Some demanded the village cover medical expenses to see if residents have contracted ailments after drinking the well water.

Most just wanted to know why the village continued using the well long after learning it was polluted.

"Why for 22 or 23 years did you still pump vinyl chloride into our homes?" asked resident Bob O'Toole, referring to a chemical found in the well that is so toxic that the U.S. EPA says there is no safe level of exposure.

And many said Stranczek did not provide satisfactory answers to that question.

After the meeting, the mayor shook hands with a few residents, exited quickly out a back door and was whisked away in a blue SUV.

Later Saturday, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, whose district includes Crestwood, spoke to about 300 people at a church in neighboring Palos Heights. Rush said he sent a letter to U.S. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson demanding the federal agency come to Crestwood to hold public meetings, investigate the village and test to ensure the drinking water is safe.

Rush called the actions of Crestwood officials "atrocious," "shameful" and "criminal."